Pattern Recognition

Just finished reading Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. Bloody brilliant. Brilliant as in intelligent. As in interesting. As in luminary.

I try to avoid superlatives because they are so often overused without a moment’s hesitation, but every once in a while overdoing it is appropriate.

As a good scifi nerd, I know that I should have started with the masterpiece Neuromancer, the book famous for bringing the word cyberspace into the vernacular. I tried to read Neuromancer years ago, but gave up about thirty pages in, completely lost. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Pattern Recognition, I may have to go back and try again.

Once I ponder for a while and assemble my notes, I’ll be back with something a little more eloquent than "brilliant." I’ll say something about a reasonably believable female protagonist–with only a few glaring errors–written by a male author and about most of the loose ends being tied up nicely but with a few things left to wonder about, which is the way good novels *should* end. That sort of thing. Stay tuned.

Be forewarned, it is quite possible that my discussion of this book (or any book really) is likely to include too much information for those who have not read the book. I’ll try to be careful, but if something really strikes me, I am going to write about it. Otherwise, my own brilliant thoughts might be wasted rattling around in my skull. ;-)